Hilltribes in and around Pai Thailand (Karen)

Karen

Karen [Yang or Kaliang] belong to the Sino-Tibetan linguistic family. They are found along most of the length of the Thai Burmese border. Their population is about 350,000 in Thailand, with over four million in Burma. This group is the biggest in Thailand. Karen is concentrated mainly in Mae Hong Son province, and western areas of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Phayao. Karen are to be found also in the provinces of Tak, Kanchanaburi and Phrachuap Khiri Khan, Lampang, Lamphun, Sukhothai, Phrae, Kamphaeng Phet, Phetchaburi, Uthai Thani, Suphanburi and Ratchaburi. Over the past 200 years they have tended to move eastward away from Burma into Thailand because of political conflicts with the Burmese.

Karen has four main subgroups:

• White Karen: Sgaw Karen or Pga-gan-Yaw and Pwo Karen
• Black Karen or Pa-0
• Padung or "long neck" Karen
• Red Karen or Kayah

Traditions: Karen costume for women is very attractive and distinctive. Unmarried girls wear loose white V-necked shifts, decorated with Job's Tear seeds at the seams. Married women wear blouses and skirts in bold colors, predominantly red or blue. Men wear blue baggy trousers, with typically red striped shirts, a simplified version of the women's blouses. Black Karen men wear black shirts with a red cummerbund or head scarf. Karen women are skilled in sewing and dyeing, and dress in white blouse sarong combinations with colorful patterns or beads for trim. They wear their long hair tied back in a bun and covered with white scarves.
Karen villages are located in valleys or mountain slops at an average height of 500 meters. Karen houses are not usually large. Children usually leave the home when married - there is no extended family housing in most Karen villages. Houses are on stilts, made of bamboo or teak. Central steps lead to a porch, with a store room or kitchen to one side, a living area and bedroom on the other. Beneath the house is a working area, often with foot-step operated rice ponder.
The Karen is gentle, peaceful, and cooperative people. The Karen has strict laws against immorality. The village chief has great power over his community and is regarded as the spiritual as well as the administrative leader. The Karen practice monogamy, and most households are nuclear. In all cases, the family represents the most important basic cooperative unit in all domestic affairs.
Karen likes all the tribes are skilled farmers who practice crop rotation, and they also hunt for game, with spears and crossbows, and use tame elephants to help them clear land. Rice and vegetables are their major crops. They raise pigs, chickens, water buffaloes, cattle and elephants. Some animals, mostly chickens, are killed for ceremonial offerings. The Karen used to hire out their elephants or work with them in elephant camps, performing shows for tourists.
Karen is originally animist, but about 25% of Karen living in Thailand have been converted to Christianity by western missionaries.The Karen New Year celebration takes place in January or February.
Padung
The Padung are a sub-group of Karen (Bwe Group) living in Kayah state of eastern Burma near the Thailand border. Their number is less than 40,000 people. The Padung call themselves "Lae Kur" or "Kayan". They have their own language belongs to the Kenmic group in the Tibeto-Burman language family.
In Thailand, only a few families of Padung have settled temporarily as refugees in Muang District of Mae Hong Son Province, living among other hilltribe groups, mostly Karen, and being the one of the main reasons for visiting tourists to that area.
The Padung escape from the Kaya State in Burma to Thailand in this century and are actually refugees of a political turmoil. They belong to the Karenni sub-group of the Karen People, which are still fighting for their independence in Burma.
The Karen-Padung occupied central Burma before the Burmese arrived from the North and they together with the ancient Mon, farmed the Irrawaddy and Salween Valleys and built civilizations based on their unique cultures.
The Padung women are putting brass rings around their necks and distorts the growth of their collarbones and make them look as if they have long necks. Row of brass rings do not actually stretch their necks but in fact squash the vertebrae and collar bones. A woman generally has about twenty or more rings around her neck. This neck ring adornment is started when the girls are 5 or 6 years old.The rings on the arms and the legs are not quite as prominent as those on the neck simply because the neck rings are so pronounced. However, these rings are just as important. The rings on the arms are worn on the forearm from the wrist to the elbow. Those on the legs are worn from the ankles to the knees, and cloth coverings are kept over most of these rings, from the shins down to the ankles.Other Karen-Padung tribes reside in Phrae Province, and Baan Tha Ton in far north Chiang Mai province [close to Aka's Guest Home 14 km from Baan Tha Ton]. The Karen-Padung in Phrae lives in the Wang shin District, in Mae Sin Village, Kang Jai Village and Mae Pong Village. These are in the vicinity of KM 75 on the Phrae-Wangchin Road. The women of these Karen tribes display their beauty, and their status as married women, by wearing carved elephant tusk in their ears. When a woman is married, her ears are pierced and an elephant tusk of one to four centimeters in length is inserted. During the early stages the ear pieces are quite small, especially for younger women. The weight of the tusks gradually weighs down on the ear lobe and the ear gets larger and larger, and longer and longer. Then larger tusks are inserted and the process repeats itself until the woman's ears become extremely elongated and floppy. The married woman wears these ear pieces for life.
Tradition : Padung [who are sometimes referred to as the "Long-Ears"] is one of the oldest of peoples in this part of the world. Long before any of the present day territories were formed by boundaries into nations or countries, the peoples of Southeast Asia, particularly mountain dwellers, practiced a custom known as "Loaded Ears". According to this custom, the ears, being one of the most sacred parts of the body, were an important object of adornment. For beauty in the women and for strength in the men, the ears of both sexes were loaded. Today, among the Karen-Padaung of Phrae and of Burma, this tradition is continued for the female gender only, once married.
Unmarried girls in these tribes do not wear the ear pieces, but they do wear white dresses, in contrast to the red and black dresses worn by the married women, and on the backs of their hands a few magical words are written in spiritual languages. These words carry meaning to bless these girls to have a happy life.
Most of Padung are animists, the number of Christians is increasing because of the Roman Catholic mission. The annual festival for the fertility and prosperity of the whole community is usually held at the beginning of the rainy season. Sacrifices are made to the spirits for good health and bountiful harvests. Rice is the Padung main crop.The tribe of the PadungThe tribe of the "Long Neck " and "Long Ears" Women.There are three Padung villages and all the three are near the Burmese border, not far from the city of Mae Hong Son are Huei Sua Tao, Na Soi and Nam Pieng Din

Hilltribes in and around Pai Thailand

Hilltribes in and around Pai

Akha
Karen
LahuLisu
Yao
Hmong
Taiyai
Palong
Mon

Lawa

Akha

Akha [Ei-Ko] are well known to tourists for their extraordinary costumes and exotic appearance. There are approximately 50,000 Akha living in Thailand. Akha originate from Tibet and Yunnan in China. It is generally believed that Akha originated in the Tibetan Highlands. Over the years they left their homeland and migrated south to Yunnan, North Burma and Laos, and have only recently entered North Thailand, [in the last 150 years].
Akha newcomers from Burma are constantly arriving. Akha are historically linked with the ancient Lolo tribes that inhabit South Yunnan. Akha belong to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan linguistic family. Akha are less open to change than other hilltribes, proudly retaining their old customs.Akha are animists and ancestors worshippers, prefer to live along mountain ridges at high altitudes of approximately 1,000 m. Akha houses are on low stilts, with a large porch leading into a square living area with a stove, usually at the back. The roof is steeply pitched. Akha village is entered through ceremonial gates, decorated with carvings of "human" life to indicate to the spirit world that beyond here only humans can pass. Outside the gates are wooden sculptures of copulating couples, and the gates may be decorated with a wide variety of "human" artifacts - weapons, tools, and nowadays cars and airplanes. To touch these carvings, or to show any lack of respect, is punishable by fines or the donation of animals for sacrifices. The gates are replaced every year.

Akha New Year

A giant swing in each village presided over by guardian spirits. The four day Swinging Festival, the most enjoyable ceremonial event, in which the headman, followed by the rest of the village, take turns using the swing. The festival is held during mid-August to mid September.

Tradition:

Black caps covered with silver coins, worn by the women. The women's costume is very colorful. The headgear, which is rarely removed is a conical wedge of white beads interspersed with silver coins and topped with plumes of red taffeta, dressed with a loose fitting black jacket with heavily embroidered cuffs and lapels. The man's costume: plain black pants and a lightly embroidered loose jacket.Cultivation: Akha are shifting cultivators, cultivate dry rice , corn, millet, peppers, beans, garlic, sesame and other varieties of vegetables as additional subsistence crops. Crop production is often inadequate to meet their needs. Domestic animals, including fowl, pigs and water buffaloes are also raised by Akha for special feasts and sacrifices. Akha place special emphasis upon ancestor-worship and spirit offerings.Many Akha are now selling handicrafts, employing the traditional skills used in making their own clothing and cultural items. Akha men and women produce various decorative items of bamboo and seeds. Arkha men make crossbows, musical instruments, a variety of baskets, and other items of wood, bamboo and rattan. Akha women spin cotton into thread with a hand spindle; weave it on a foot treadle loom. The cloth is dyed with indigo, then sewed into clothing for the family.